A frustration for people from Herefordshire is why the last train back from Birmingham New Street on weekdays is always 9pm. Which then arrives in Hereford just after 10.30pm. This makes road or an expensive hotel stay the only option especially if you are in Birmingham for an event.
On the other part of the rail route trains from Cardiff to Hereford and Shrewsbury to Hereford run late into the evening.
We approached West Midlands Railway for comment and they told us below.
“Due to the railway infrastructure available to us, it is not possible to run any later services to Hereford. This is dictated by the line opening times, as we need to send our trains back to the depot before Network Rail starts overnight maintenance.”
Background:
- Any trains we operate to Hereford have to get back to Worcester depot while the line is open.
- The line opening times are dictated by Network Rail, as they need to take possession of the infrastructure for routine maintenance every night.
- Those times differ per line of route – which is perhaps why there are later trains to Hereford from elsewhere
- For the line between Worcester and Hereford, there is insufficient time for us to run materially later than we currently do.
